Mission Revival as an architectural movement helped sell California

"They started to become a nice descriptor of history that was different than on the East Coast. Further feeding the romance, the runaway popularity of "Ramona," an 1884 novel about a young Scottish-Native American woman, set in Southern California. The tragic love story was author Helen Hunt Jackson's attempt to create an "Uncle Tom's Cabin" sympathetic to Mission Indians; instead, its tens of thousands of readers conjured an idealized vision of rancho and mission life."

"At this point, most of these missions were in ruins. This, in part, spurred the restoration. Then, in 1893, the World's Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago - 690 acres of exhibits and wild wonders from every state and around the globe. In a sea of French neoclassical structures, architect Arthur Page Brown's California Building stood unique."

"When California boosters wanted to flaunt the Golden State's bounty at the world's fair in 1893, they presented it in a monumental package - a stalwart resurrection of the then-crumbling Franciscan missions. After that, Mission Revival became both a literal and an architectural movement. Whitewashing any sins of departed conquistadores, Californians and newcomers alike bought into the idyllic, pastoral life the Mission Revival suggested."

California's presentation at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition featured a monumental mission-style building that catalyzed the Mission Revival architectural movement. This romanticized vision of pastoral mission life appealed to Californians and newcomers, who began constructing homes reflecting this idealized aesthetic while simultaneously spurring efforts to preserve the original deteriorating missions. The popularity of Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel "Ramona," which depicted a romanticized version of mission and rancho life, further fueled this cultural movement. The novel attracted thousands of readers who traveled via newly expanded transcontinental railroads to experience the locations described in the book. The missions' ruined state at this time prompted restoration initiatives. Architect Arthur Page Brown's distinctive California Building at the World's Fair, standing apart from the fair's predominant French neoclassical structures, became instrumental in establishing Mission Revival as both an architectural and cultural movement.

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